Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Day Job .....LED Lights and Water and Power!

Well I feel powerful today!

I got to shut down a major sized fountain here in the "City of Fountains" to test one of my prototype RGB LED fixtures.

" This gift to the city in the name of the co-founder of H&R Block, Inc is located at Pershing & Main Streets outside Union Station. It features 232 jets arranged in three concentric rings within an ellipse of black granite. A thin sheen of water on the flat granite creates a mirror to reflect the monumental architecture on either side. A computer choreographs an ever-changing pattern of display. On each hour and half-hour, a five-minute "high show" presents a celebration of water in movement. The fountain was designed by WET Design, the designers of the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas."

"Henry Wollman Bloch Memorial Fountain"

I am designing a LED light conversion for this fountain, one of my projects here at my day job at Duracomm. Currently there is no light show for fountain, as all the lights are incandescent warm white sealed beam lamps that are on or off. The only show is the computer generated water show as described above.

When I am done the colorful light show will complement the water show with a computer choreographed operation. This is fairly complex operation. Anyhow this is one of the many things I get to do in my day job.

Here are some of the older "super lights" in the middle of the fountain.

16 "Big Shooters" make the big squirts - These are air driven jets here. These get changed out and new colorful LED super lights get installed.

This is one of my prototype LED fixtures I was "dry" fitting for the conversion. Dry is the operative word here, it all was wet and under 9 inches of water. :)

This is in the pump room under the fountain.

8 high speed water pumps make the water shoot high in to the air. 232 jets make the fountain look spectacular!

This is the mini-shooter relay panel. This is what controls the water jets on & off patterns.

Wires!

Can you say explosion at a spaghetti factory!

This where the "majic" happens, the PLC controller for the water show.

Here is a close up of the older "super lights" in the middle of the fountain.

"Big Shooters" make the big squirts - These are air driven jets here. These lamps get changed out and new colorful RGB LED super lights get installed.

The fountain was completed in 2002. I am excited to get to work on this big one.